Why hack it when you can do it on purpose? When used in a parking lot, you can make the parking lines dynamic, depending on needs.
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In the case of a festival, empty out the lot and make the whole thing a giant disco dance floor.
I'm a bit sceptical about this...I mean, yes, it uses recycled material, but what about all the microchips and other electronical stuff that's in it? Isn't that expensive? Also, if we replace all the roads with this, we have to leave some space under them for maintenance, right? Wouldn't it crumble under the weight of so many cars? Otherwise it seems like a truly amazing idea, I'm just a bit in doubt about these two things...
Yes ofcoarse it will be expensive but so is any new project, and solar technology is expensive in general. They did show that there will be two tunnel type holes next to them underground. (:
Initially they will be expensive but on the long term they may save millions in road damage repairs and solar panels are very robust so they can handle a lot of weight
@ewqua the electronics will not be that expensive, on a per tile basis. it doesn't need to as advanced as your average calculator, and microchips are not terribly expensive. as for the maintenance space, it is not necessary. the fact that it is a tile system will allow maintenance workers to pull up whatever tiles need to be fixed. I think the main issue could become lightning strikes knocking out the system on a particular stretch of road, causing multiple accidents at a time
Another thing to consiter is that once these go to full mass production, the per unit cost will radically drop since it is cheaper to manufacture in bulk and the lessons learned will further streamline the process.
Geust I don't think lightning would be a big problem because the top layer is made from recycled glass. So unless it's the highest point in a big open field, I don't think that would be an isseu. (:
I think the production to make the technology would provide enough jobs that the economy would be boosted enough to make all the materials super affordable. AND it would definitely start happening all over the world, too, so the whole FREAKIN' WORLD would be doing much better. And even after most production is done, the maintenance required would provide so many jobs that countries could afford to provide tons more resources to the rest of the world. With the way the world is right now, we DEFINITELY need a huge scale project like this to bring everybody closer together.
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· 10 years ago
It could be like the Hover Dam back in the Great Depression.
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In the case of a festival, empty out the lot and make the whole thing a giant disco dance floor.
Edit: Link - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/solar-roadways#home